AN eerie update has surfaced nearly two weeks after a retired Air Force veteran vanished, as his wife pushed back on a wave of rumors surrounding the case.
Her message came as the search widened, with the FBI now assisting local authorities and no confirmed sign yet of what happened after he walked away from home.
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Air Force General Neil McCasland was last seen leaving his home on February 27Credit: Air Force
McCasland once held senior space and research roles in the Air Force and National Reconnaissance OfficeCredit: US Air Force
His wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, said much of what is being said about Neil’s disappearance online is not trueCredit: Facebook
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen leaving his home on foot at about 11 a.m. on February 27 and has not been heard from since.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said a Silver Alert remains active and that investigators have so far found no evidence of foul play.
McCasland once held senior space and research roles in the Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office.
His career included leading the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, a base long tied to UFO lore in popular culture.
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That background has fueled online speculation since he disappeared.
His wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, said much of what is being said about his disappearance online is not true.
She said the medical issue mentioned in the initial alert should not be taken to mean Alzheimer’s.
“Neil is at some risk, but not from dementia,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“He was not confused and disoriented.”
She also flatly rejected rumors that a close relative received a troubling phone call around the time he vanished.
“I have been in contact with all of his close relatives and some not-so-close ones. This is a complete fabrication,” she said.
Wilkerson also tried to tamp down theories that his disappearance was tied to old classified work.
She said he retired from the Air Force nearly 13 years ago and has had only commonly held clearances since.
She acknowledged he had a brief post-retirement link to the UFO community through Tom DeLonge, the former Blink-182 frontman and founder of To The Stars.
But she said that role was limited and unpaid, and was mainly to lend realism to fiction and media projects.
She added that connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil.
Wilkerson also said he does not have special knowledge about ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt.
Then, in a darkly joking line, she added that “maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership.”
On the ground, the search has been intense.
Wilkerson said teams have included deputies, the FBI, state search and rescue crews, mountain rescue volunteers, horses, helicopters, drones and several types of search dogs.
ABC affiliate KOAT reported investigators also found a gray U.S. Air Force sweatshirt more than a mile from his house on March 7, though there was no blood found in the initial processing.
Authorities have also asked neighbors to preserve security footage, with Sheriff John Allen saying the priority is finding McCasland safely.